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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25989073">this is me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs'>daisylincs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week 2020, Development Fic, Gen, Skye | Daisy Johnson-centric, Songfic, Tribute Fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:27:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25989073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Songfic. A tribute to Daisy Johnson.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Skye | Daisy Johnson &amp; Agents of SHIELD Team</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886254</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>this is me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Daisy Johnson. Only, oh, my favourite character in the entire world - and yes, I’m aware of how melodramatic that sounds, but it’s <i>true.</i> I’ve never loved another character as much as I love Daisy, and I don’t have the words to describe how much she’s inspired me, made me laugh with her, made me cry for her and made me passionately wish good things for her. She just means so much to me, and I can barely believe I’ll never see her on the show again *quietly sobbing*</p><p>So when I heard there was a Daisy Johnson Appreciation Week, I said, you know what? I don’t <i>care</i> how many other projects I have, I <i>have</i> to do this. Because the thing is, I don’t think there’s any character who I appreciate more than Daisy.</p><p>The prompt for Day 1 was “a fanwork inspired by lyrics or a quote,” and I thought that since I’ve never done anything like that before, it might be a lot of fun to try out a songfic! I also immediately knew that I wanted it to be kind of a development fic through Daisy’s incredible journey - because my goodness, what a journey she’s had.</p><p>The song I settled on was <i>This Is Me</i> from the Greatest Showman - which honestly just gives me the <i>chills</i> everytime I listen to it, and I can’t think of a better song to write a tribute to my favourite character. So now with no further ado: I hope you guys enjoy this little experiment of mine, and join me in saying “Daisy is the BEST” at the end 😍😍😍</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>I am not a stranger to the dark</i>
</p><p>Daisy Johnson was born on July 2nd, 1988. It was a warm summer's night, and the very air seemed to sing with her parents' love and laughter as they held their baby daughter for the first time. </p><p>Barely a week later, her mother was gone, her grief-stricken father had rushed away to find her, and Daisy had been taken away from her home. </p><p><i>Hide away, they say</i> </p><p>Mary Sue Poots grew up in the orphanage, chafing against the word of the nuns who raised her, and hoping fiercely for a family to replace the one she had lost. </p><p>"Not a good fit" were the words she heard most of all. "Not a good fit" and "too unruly" and "don't think she'll ever find her family." </p><p><i>'Cause we don't want your broken parts</i> </p><p>The first time Mary Sue dared to call someone "Mom," she was sent back to the orphanage still clutching the shards of the glass she had accidentally broken. </p><p>"I can fix it," she had wanted to say. "Don't go, I can fix it, wait -" </p><p>But they were already gone. </p><p><i>I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars</i> </p><p>Mary Sue learned to be cynical. She learned to stop hoping to fit in, because there was nowhere where she <i>could</i> fit in. </p><p>She was different. Unwanted. Unwanteable. </p><p><i>Run away, they say</i> </p><p>She changed her name. She was Skye now. She was a young woman on the run, barely out of school, with a whole world for her to prove herself to. </p><p>A whole world for her to find herself in. </p><p><i>No-one will love you as you are</i> </p><p>Skye's life-long mission became to find her parents, the parents who had given birth to her, the parents who had loved her. Who would still love her. They <i>had</i> to. </p><p>They were the only people who would. </p><p><i>But I won't let them break me down to dust</i> </p><p>Then she found herself in SHIELD. She found herself surrounded by people who wanted to trust her, appreciate her, help her. </p><p>Care about her. </p><p>
  <i>I know that there's a place for us </i>
</p><p>She betrayed them.</p><p>But they didn't cast her away. They were still willing to work with her, to be there for her, to give her a second chance. </p><p>She took it. </p><p>
  <i>For we are glorious </i>
</p><p>Skye held the badge of an Agent of SHIELD in her hand, feeling the cool metal of the insignia press against her palm, and for the first time in her life, she felt like she belonged. </p><p>She felt home. </p><p><i>When the sharpest words wanna cut me down</i> </p><p>Then Hydra was there, eating up her new home from the inside out, destroying it before she had even belonged for a full day. </p><p>
  <i>I'm gonna send a flood, I'm gonna drown 'em out </i>
</p><p>And Ward, Ward who she had trusted, Ward who she had <i>kissed,</i> was one of them. </p><p>Skye let him believe she didn't know. And when he trusted her, <i>she</i> betrayed <i>him. </i></p><p>And then she ran. </p><p>
  <i>I am brave, I am bruised </i>
</p><p>She started to train with May when it was over, training and training and pushing her body to do things she hadn't imagined she was capable of. </p><p>She felt harder; colder. </p><p>Good. </p><p>She was. </p><p><i>I am who I'm meant to be</i> </p><p>They built SHIELD up again, starting from the ground, with Coulson at the head. </p><p>And she was there to support him every step of the way. </p><p>
  <i>Look out, 'cause here I come </i>
</p><p>Ward escaped, and then her father was there; and Raina, with her plan to activate the Diviner. </p><p>She shot Ward. She stopped her father. And she went after Raina. </p><p><i>And I'm marching on to the beat I drum</i> </p><p>There was something else inside her now, something that made the earth shake when her emotions ran wild, something that made glasses fall and windows shatter. </p><p>Something dangerous. Something <i>powerful.</i> </p><p>
  <i>I'm not scared, to be seen </i>
</p><p>She was. She was scared. She didn't know how to control it, this something inside of her. </p><p>But then she learned. </p><p>And then she <i>used</i> it. </p><p><i>I make no apologies</i> </p><p>She saved Lincoln, saved her friend. And she stood with her people. </p><p>(She learned, later, that she has been wrong. </p><p>But she still stood strong.) </p><p><i>Another round of bullets hits my skin</i> </p><p>She lost her mother. She lost her father. She watched them both die, in a manner of speaking - her mother as her very spine snapped, and her father as she hugged him, knowing he would never see her and remember her again. </p><p>
  <i>Well fire away </i>
</p><p>Daisy stood up from the wreckage, picked herself up, dusted herself off, and started to <i>build.</i> </p><p>
  <i>'Cause today</i>
</p><p>She lost Jemma, lost her best friend. </p><p>But Daisy held the portal open, and they got her back. </p><p><i>I won't let the shame sink in</i> </p><p>She went to the apartment, and she found Lincoln. Talked to him. Persuaded him that his gift wasn't a curse, the way he had done for her. </p><p>Full circle. </p><p>
  <i>We are bursting through the barricades </i>
</p><p>When Hydra tried to take her friends away from her, she built up a team of Inhumans and got them back.</p><p>But she paid a terrible price. </p><p><i>And reaching for the sun</i> </p><p>Daisy's mind wasn't her own. She was part of the Hive. She had the connection she had always craved; the family. </p><p>She lost it. </p><p>
  <i>We are warriors </i>
</p><p>She meant to sacrifice herself, to make it all right. </p><p>But Lincoln did it for her. </p><p>
  <i>And that's what we've become </i>
</p><p>She left SHIELD. She left it all behind and ran, and ran, and ran, fighting as hard as she could with every breath, but fighting on her own. </p><p>
  <i>Yeah, that's what we've become </i>
</p><p>But her people - SHIELD - came after her, and a little against her will at first, she found herself back in the game. </p><p>They had to go into another world where everything was different, where everyone was different. </p><p>She almost lost a part of herself in there. </p><p>Instead, she found her family again. </p><p><i>I won't let them break me down to dust</i> </p><p>They didn't even have time to finish brushing themselves off from their last mission before they were yanked into the next one, pulled right out of their time and dropped into a new one without any idea of what was going on. </p><p>
  <i>I know that there's a place for us </i>
</p><p>But Daisy wouldn’t let herself be trodden down - she found her friends, and she quaked the alien that was trying to kill them into tiny pieces.</p><p>She saved them so they could regroup and figure out how to fix this mess.</p><p>
  <i>For we are glorious </i>
</p><p>Things didn’t go to plan. She found out she might have destroyed the world, and then she had to fight for her life in an alien arena. She even lost her powers.</p><p>But she still refused to give up. </p><p>
  <i>When the sharpest words wanna cut me down </i>
</p><p>She wanted to be a hero and stay behind so she <i>couldn't</i> destroy the world - but her family didn't let her. They brought her home.</p><p>And she had to go out on that day and fight, despite the horrifying possibility of what she might accidentally do. </p><p><i>I'm gonna send a flood, I'm gonna drown 'em out</i> </p><p>She didn't want to go. But she did. </p><p>
  <i>I am brave, I am bruised </i>
</p><p>Daisy Johnson fought for the world, and she won. </p><p>
  <i>I am who I'm meant to be </i>
</p><p>She stood up. Daisy Johnson, Quake, Destroyer of Worlds, Agent of SHIELD. </p><p>She knew who she was. She knew why she was here. </p><p>She didn't let herself be told no. They would find Fitz, they would stop the Chronicoms, they would do whatever it took. </p><p>She walked on-board the Zephyr to face her final mission head-on, and the doors slammed shut behind her. </p><p>
  <i>This is me. </i>
</p>
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